Human Resources (HR) is a complex field that requires practitioners to evaluate, analyse, understand, and respond to the attributes and needs of potential or current employees. When making hiring decisions, an HR Manager must incorporate all of these skills and balance them with the needs of their company to ensure an excellent fit for both employer and employee. This work requires an HR Manager to identify the right combination of personality traits. Fortunately, social scientists have been working for decades to try and understand the human psyche and classify individuals according to their personality traits. But, as an HR Manager, how can you be sure if a person has what it takes to succeed when there are so many options available?
The best personality test for HR Managers is the DISC Behavioural Assessment or DISC Assessment. This test characterises Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance personality characteristics to help anyone understand how an individual’s disposition empowers them to succeed in any role, or how they can compensate accordingly for specific traits.
In any position, the more you know about yourself and how your unique skills fit with the role, the better off you and your employer will be. But how can we best know ourselves? And what about ourselves makes us a good fit for one role or another? See how the DISC Assessment can help you answer these questions and thrive in any position.
Human Resources Personality Tests
Since the beginning of human societies, people have looked for ways to understand each other and evaluate our differences to find the best fit for any task. Whether it was the familial division of household responsibilities or labor specialisation in the Industrial Revolution, finding the right person for every job improves both productivity and job satisfaction. While this can apply to physical attributes for jobs that require manual labour, for a position requiring specialised knowledge and soft skills, understanding a person’s intelligence and personality is key. Famous psychologists, anthropologists, and countless other researchers have toiled in the depths of the human psyche to find insights into how our minds work, what motivates us, and to characterise the different aspects of our personalities.
Over time, this intellectual curiosity evolved beyond just trying to understand our personalities to finding ways to harness them to suit specific roles. While the first personality tests were developed in the early 20th century to evaluate soldiers and their predisposition to “shell shock,” personality tests have come a long way. There are tens of personality tests available, some widely available, some proprietary, some legitimate, some for fun, that are used today to characterise individuals and assess their personality. While these tests are not generally designed with a specific role, some are better than others at assessing a person’s personality and how those traits may suit them in a specific role.
From a human resources perspective, a personality test can provide a wealth of information, particularly to evaluate potential hires or to find the right fit for an incumbent employee based on their specific traits. These tests are valid and useful tools for an HR Manager to use and complement other aspects of evaluation including aptitude tests, education and experience qualifications, and company fit.
Some of the most common tests used in assessing potential HR Managers are the DISC Behavioural Assessment, the Five-Factor Model, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, the HEXACO model, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and a number of others that have been developed over the last several decades to try to best understand human personalities and the factors that enable certain people to thrive in certain environments. These tests have all been tested in either academic or institutional environments and are all scientifically proven to be both reliable and valid on all fronts. While there are so many options for personality tests, there is also significant overlap among them and taking each one would give you redundant, though sometimes confusing, results. Ideally, a single test among these will give you the answers you’re looking for without having to spend hours answering multiple choice questions or interpreting obscure inkblots.
Best Personality Test For Hiring
Among the many personality tests mentioned, the DISC Behavioural Assessment is the best test to use in hiring for any role. The DISC Assessment has the ability to characterise a person’s behaviours and beliefs to ascertain their suitability to succeed in any role, as well as how they will fit in with other team members and the company culture. The DISC personality profile, or DISC behavioural assessment, was initially developed in 1940 by Walter Clark in trying to understand organisational dynamics. The questionnaire was designed to measure four key factors that shape our personalities and coincide with four key personality types:
- Dominance – competitive, aggressive, decisive and results-oriented. They prefer to move fast, take risks and get things done now. These types also like to be in charge, control and have the power.
- Influence – talkative, sociable, optimistic and lively. They are people-oriented, spontaneous, energetic and enthusiastic.These tend to be positive and good at influencing others.
- Steadiness – calm, patient, and modest. They are loyal and often make excellent team players. They tend to be patient listeners, trustworthy, and balanced between tasks and people.
- Compliance – exact, logical and analytical. These types require lots of structure and rules. Their ability to think deeply about issues helps make them excellent problem-solvers.
There are many advantages of the DISC assessment that apply specifically to hiring. The test was designed to understand how people’s personalities guide their interactions with others. As an HR Manager, knowing someone’s personality type is essential in understanding how they will interact with your clients and your colleagues. It also helps you to understand your leadership style and how you prefer to communicate. It lets you play to your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses by giving you a deeper understanding of your natural tendencies.
Other Human Resources Personality Tests
While the DISC Behavioural Assessment is the best test to use to evaluate candidates, the insights derived from the test can be improved upon by taking the Extended DISC® Behavioural Analysis. This test can be used to evaluate candidates, but is also very telling for your identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your current employees and leveraging their personality profiles to improve their work with others as well as their productivity. By identifying areas for improvement or further development within individual employees, it is a valuable test to assist in identifying how best to assign employees or the best training opportunities to invest in.
Related Questions
What character traits do HR managers typically seek?
There is no single best DISC personality profile. Depending on the requirements of a specific role, the interactions between colleagues and customers, the industry, and the company culture, any individual or combination of DISC profiles can be the best fit for a role. Understanding how personality traits have interplay and overlap within one person and across teams consumes entire management consulting teams. Having employees, or sometimes even customers, take their DISC assessment is an important first step in understanding these interactions.
HR Assessment Tools & Resources
There are infinite HR assessment tools and resources available for HR Managers looking to evaluate current or potential employees and leverage their strengths. Beyond just personality profile, there are tools that assess everything from basic aptitude and cognitive ability, to logic and memory, and even sales competence and various reasoning capacities. These tools are all useful when used appropriately can provide a wealth of information to evaluate, assess, and compare individuals for any role. Here is a useful place to start your search.
